Tuesday, January 29, 2013

psycwave:"Hi Mr. Wood! You said in an interview that Psylocke might be using an array of "psychic weapons" aside from her knife the last time she used a psychic weapon was when she last used her telekinesis (Chris Claremont had her manifesting telekinetic bats and the like in New Exiles). So are these manifestations of new weapons shows of her now rarely used telekinesis or are the simply more telepathic feats similar to Quentin Quire?"

Brian Wood: "No bats, but yeah, telekinesis. Things that compliment her katana, expand her arsenal. You'll see this right away in issue #1."

I guess the editors are still letting the writer decide if Psylocke comes equipped with TK or not. What do you guys think? What new psychic weapons would you like to see Psylocke create?

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Comicosity: Currently the writer of no less than five acclaimed titles for three publishers — The Massive, Conan the Barbarian, and the brand-new Star Wars for Dark Horse, Mara for Image, and Ultimate Comics: X-Men for Marvel — Brian Wood is making headlines again with his upcoming X-Men. Centering on Jubilee, Storm, Psylocke, Rogue, Rachel Grey, and Kitty Pryde, X-Men will not only be a title jam-packed with fan favorite characters, it will also be the first time a flagship X-Men title has featured an all-female lineup. In an email conversation, Wood talked what brings this new team together, and how character-driven stories (with lots of big action) are the key to pleasing new and old readers alike.

Gavin Craig: X-Men seems to be a title that will appeal to both long-time readers and those who have been yearning for more female-led ongoings in the marketplace. How do you balance the demands of the two audiences in putting together a title like X-Men?

Brian Wood: My gut tells me that what you have to do, all you have to do, is find the core of each character and give them interesting and original stories. New readers can be brought up to date quickly this way and longtime readers will appreciate a classic and familiar approach. You don’t need to info-dump for the sake of new readers, they’re smart enough to hit the ground running. What you can’t do is tell stories based solely on past stories or are so deep in continuity that will ONLY ever appeal to the hardcore fan. I always look at New X-Men #1 by Grant Morrison: a bare minimum of captions and explanation, but it was cool and dense and exciting and also accessible. It was almost impossible to find something to dislike.

I see this here as a real opportunity, as this book more than most has a real shot at reaching new readers. I have a readership of my own that, while not huge, tends to follow me to new books pretty faithfully, and a large number of them are women and this book is perfect for them. Seeing this get written up in places like Wired is another great bit of outreach. All the mainstream press is treating this as something special, and so the burden is really on me to make sure that doesn’t go to waste. If we get a lot of casual buyers when the book launches, I want to hold on to as many as possible. An all-female core X-Men title is a FANTASTIC idea.GC: X-Men has a fascinating line-up, and focusing on Jubilee is a striking choice given the way she’s so often written as a flighty and sometimes childish character. What drew you to the idea of handing Jubilee the leadership?

BW: Well, I’m not sure I would call Jubilee the leader. Storm’s the leader if anyone’s the leader, but the focus of the first couple arcs is on Jubilee, if you see the distinction. And I certainly don’t see Jubilee as flighty or childish — those are both very negative terms. Jubilee’s young, and she, thank god, has retained a youthful spirit despite some pretty rough life experiences. I see this as a positive, and what I have to do as a writer is to showcase this without going too far and making her seem trivial, or joking around too much. That said, you WANT to see these characters joke and banter back and forth with each other. So that’s the line to walk, right there. Appropriate moments.

Beyond that, everyone loves Jubilee. Even if they are wearied by extended vampirey stories, deep down they love Jubilee. I’m going to remind them of that. A classic Jubilee but not a retro Jubilee.

GC: Everyone in this lineup has led an X-team at one time or another. Can we expect this to be a group that will settle into a harmonious team dynamic, or are there likely to be there to be a lot of individual missions and agendas?

BW: This is a team in the loosest sense of the word. There is no formal declaration of their status or the setting up of an HQ and so on (at least not in the near future). This is a team born out of necessity, literally to protect one of their own, and we take it from there. These characters are all friends, all have shared history, and their banding together in a time of need is both natural to them and to the reader. As we go, we’ll have solo issues and side stories in addition to the “big mission” arcs, since all these characters have the stature and the history to drive their own stories.

I’m being vague because we’re still pretty far out and I’d rather wait for some preview pages before I start getting into the details of the first story, but we’ll kick it off with this huge, planetary-level threat and multiple fight scenes and some great high action, to sort of prove the point, to show how well and how effective this group of X-Men can be.

GC: You’ve talked about Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison’s work on the X-Men as being inspirations for this title. What elements do you find most compelling about each of their runs?

BW: The character relationships and dynamics of Claremont and the big concepts of Morrison. I’m not setting out to ape either of these writers, obviously. . . that quote of mine came from a question asking what past X-Men I enjoyed, and those two writers are at the top of the list. I think my run last year on X-Men was pretty well received and I know what worked and what didn’t, but that run should give you a good idea of my “voice” on this new series. But with bigger action!

GC: What has been the most exciting part of working with Olivier Coipel?

BW: Man, just seeing the work coming in! It’s the most exciting and the most frustrating, because it’s almost a torture to wait for it.

GC: Any last thoughts or special teases you can share with the Comicosity audience?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Spoilers: Outside LA, Psylocke and Storm fly together. Betsy tells her about X-Force, while Storm assures she doesn’t want Psylocke to fall into destructive habits again. We learn that Psylocke’s attempt to teach at the Jean Grey School didn’t really work out, so Wolverine had to dismiss her. Meanwhile, Storm’s mind is also not in a right place since she’s working out her anger over her failed marriage. Psylocke tells Storm about an e-mail she received from Puck warning about a drug dealer selling TAO, a drug that makes people suscetible to a hive mind mentality. Psylocke and Storm meet Puck at a bar, and he leads them to an old bank from the 20’s that the drug dealer – the diva of downtown LA - uses to sell drugs and dance. Storm and Psylocke realize it’s Spiral. Betsy doesn’t hold back and attacks Spiral. Meanwhile, Storm and Puck head to the bank vault, since it’s where Spiral hides something. Ororo and Puck find a scared little girl inside the vault, who’s upset Psylocke is fighting Spiral. The little girl mentally orders the people at the club to attack Betsy. Elsewhere in LA, Bishop finally manages to make his way back to Earth 616. In Paris, Jean-Philipe and Cluster steal together, and end up kissing each other.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

CBR:Brian, you're a huge X-Men fan and I imagine the biggest draw of this book is the cast of characters you're playing with. How did this cast come about? What made you want to include these particular characters in this series? And besides the obvious traits of gender and X-Men affiliation what else do these characters have in common?

Brian Wood: They have history with each other, and that's something that appeals to me as a writer and is also mechanism of the story - they are not a team in the sense of a formalized organization, but they come together in a time of need because of this history they share. As far as the creation of the line-up, it's something of a rambling story, but the shortest version is: this grew out of the "X-Men" run I was doing last year, and it went through a few changes as we, my editor and I talked, but what kept happening was the scope and importance of it kept getting amped up. Originally I think we were just talking a soft relaunch for issue #40 with a couple lineup changes, and then it became a new #1, then a Marvel NOW! title, and so on. And with each step the cast was refined to this point where we have a powerhouse lineup of marquee characters. My one request through the process was to keep writing Storm, and obviously once I heard Marvel wanted Jubilee to have a prominent role, I was absolutely into that as well. The last time I got to write Jubilee was in 2000 [in "Generation X."]

In addition to Jubilee your cast includes members from three different X-teams with very different mandates: Storm and Psylocke of Uncanny X-Force, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers from the Jean Grey School, and Rogue of the Uncanny Avengers. What can you tell us about the initial dynamic of this group? Will the philosophies of the other teams these characters are affiliated with color their perceptions of what they're doing in "X-Men?"

Sure, it's meant to be a book that belongs with the others, it's not off and doing its own thing (like my "X-Men" was last year). Taking one as an example, Psylocke is up to a lot over on "Uncanny X-Force," obviously, and it's going to clash with what she's doing here. She's going to have to struggle to keep it separate, since her role or her mandate here is pretty different. But that just makes for great stories, great character moments. One of the best things, I feel, about my previous run on "X-Men" was how the characters were pulled in different directions, how they had to make choices and pick sides and reconcile loyalties. It'll keep things interesting, and will give readers a more complex character.Will this team be together when the series begins? And what else can you tell us about your initial arc? From the USA Today interview it sounds like Jubilee's discovery of an orphan baby kicks off a cosmic style epic involving Sublime, a threat from outer space and the future of mankind. Is that correct?Yeah, that's all true, but a little simplified and compressed, since I think that info is what was put into the solicitation copy. Without giving too much away, Sublime surrenders to the X-Men because he has a serious problem of his own that he can't handle, and the X-Men, being his most formidable opponents, are his best source for help. We get right into that, as he walks onto the grounds of the Jean Grey School and surrenders to Rachel and Psylocke.

Elsewhere, the others are picking up Jubilee who calls in a panic, having travelled halfway around the world to make it back "home" to the X-Men, and yeah, she's got a baby with her. How these two story lines connect is what I'm not getting into just yet, as well as the cosmic thing and the threat to the planet. And the baby, I promise you, the baby is not evil nor does it die.

Let's wrap up with some questions about how the team operates, others elements of your stories, and how "X-Men" ties to the larger X-Universe. First, will this group set up their own base of operations somewhere? And if so what can you tell us about their headquarters?

Well, no HQ just yet. Much of the team is already operating out of the Jean Grey School, and that's where they will sort of group up and get to work. Since a lot of these characters are in other books, I'm not sure I'll be able to formalize them as a discrete team with a home base. Maybe over time, but at first they are a team born out of necessity, friends and colleagues that help each other out in the face of a common threat.

When it comes to personal lives will you be tackling their preexisting relationships from other books like Kitty with Iceman, and Psylocke with Fantomex or are you more interested in developing new relationships for characters who don't really have significant others at the moment?

Right now, this far out, probably the latter more than the former. There's nothing like this planned for the first arc so honestly it's all a little abstract right now when it comes to relationships. But my gut tells me if another writer is dealing with any one character's relationship in another title, I'm not going to horn in on that and take it over. I'd much rather originate something in my own book.

Finally, can you talk about how the formation of this new X-Team will affect the other X-Teams and the Marvel Universe? Will groups like the Jean Grey School, the Uncanny Avengers, and Cyclops' team of X-Men be aware of your cast and have an interest in what they're doing?

They will absolutely be aware -- the very first issue has some SERIOUS stuff go down within the halls of the JG School (and in the labs, with an appearance by Beast). But as far as how the teams will interact or crossover or otherwise be all up in each other's business, it's a bit early to say and not for me to decide on my own. I'm talking to other writers like Bendis and Jason Aaron, so we'll see how we can coordinate things

"X-Men" #1 by Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel goes on sale in April as part of Marvel NOW!

Because you demanded it! The X-Women finally get their own book, from critically acclaimed superstars Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel! An old enemy shows up at the X-Men’s door, seeking asylum from an ancient evil come back to earth. Meanwhile, Jubilee has come home, and she’s brought with her an orphaned baby who might hold the key to the earth’s survival… or its destruction. Against a backdrop of what seems like an alien invasion and an eons-spanning war between brother and sister, Storm steps up and puts together a team to protect the child and stop a new threat that could destroy all life on earth!

Uncanny X-Force #4

Writer: Sam Humphries

Art by: Ron Garney

Cover by: Kris Anka

Variant Cover by: Ed McGuinness

• The first arc comes to a crazy climactic end!

• What have Fantomex and Cluster been up to while Bishop has been killing the rest of X-Force?

Monday, January 14, 2013

agentbraddock asked: "I like Psylocke's flying car! Was it all your idea for her to have one? It's awesome!"

Sam Humphries: "RIGHT ON! I love that car too. It was my idea, but it was Ron Garney that made it so bad ass. It's based on a 1924 Bentley. I told him to make it sci-fi, so it could fly too, and he did all the rest."

Marvel.com: The opportunity to write X-MEN must mean a great deal to you to take it on at such a busy time for you. What is it about the potential of this new series appealed to you so much that you added it to your already busy and successful schedule?

Brian Wood: Well, I look at this as just taking up the same space that X-MEN [did] last year, when I was writing the title then. So, in my own weird way of justifying things, this adds no new work! Amazing, huh? But yeah, I am busy as hell and I deeply, deeply miss having any sort of free time, but how do you turn a job like this down? It's worth it to have a really intense year or two if it means having the chance to do this work and see it sitting on my shelf, in the end.

And the appeal of the series: this has a great iconic title, X-MEN #1. It's a chance to work with Olivier Coipel, to work with Jeanine Schaefer, to write a female-led book packed with marquee names—there's no downside here; it’s a X-book I could only dream of getting. I joke with Jeanine that Marvel needs to go ahead and announce this already because otherwise I don't believe her that it’s real.

Marvel.com: Not to harp on your busy schedule, but in the past you have made it clear that the only way you can tackle so many titles at once is by working with good editors. How much does your X-Men writing benefit from working with Jeanine Schaefer?

Brian Wood: I don't know a bigger X-Men fan than Jeanine, and I also feel comfortable confessing my ignorance when there's something I don't know about the characters or continuity. Her enthusiasm and willingness to fight for this book is the sort of thing that all writers want in an editor. And she doesn't let me slack; she'll send me back for a third draft if the story needs it.

Marvel.com: You are collaborating with Olivier Coipel on this new series. As you were waiting to see his pages, I wonder was there any character you were looking especially forward to seeing how he handled them?

Brian Wood: All of them? He's great, obviously, and the art's amazing. His Jubilee is fantastic and rendered Jeanine speechless.

Marvel.com: Speaking of the cast, for fans of the X-Women of the Marvel universe, is it too early to reveal who other than the core characters will be in the book?

Brian Wood: Not too early. Pixie and Bling! put in small appearances in the first issue. Our main villain for this first arc is Sublime, and he comes with a villain of his own in tow.

Marvel.com: A team with both Kitty and Storm begs the question, will you capitalize on the strong bond those two have? Also, on the Kitty front, does that mean we get to see Lockheed, or is he too busy teaching "Knowing Your Alien Races, And How To Kill Them" at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning?

Brian Wood: [Laughs] No plans for Lockheed. And if that's the sort of stuff Jason Aaron's getting out of the character, I'm not going to get in his way.

As far as Storm and Kitty goes, yeah, they have that bond but it’s not something I'm going to single out as a point of focus. I think there's going to be a lot of great moments with Storm and everyone else, since she's definitely in a leadership role and has history with everyone. Look for some Jubilee/Storm moments, actually. Storm was there when Jubilee was [first] rescued—so was Rogue, come to think of it—and there's something very similar that's happening in this first arc that will make for a then-and-now contrast.

Marvel.com: In terms of building the cast, how did you go about selecting the characters and did you consider the potential character dynamics you could explore when making that decision?

Brian Wood: This lineup came with the job, actually, and honestly, this is a good thing. I wouldn't have had the nerve to ask for a line-up like that, and it’s my nature to want to seek out the D-list underdogs. But a cast like this is better for everyone: for the book, for the readers, and for me as a writer. It's a challenge to work with a large, iconic cast, and do them all justice.

Marvel.com: Did you and Coipel take the occasion of this new Marvel NOW! launch to give redesigns to any of the characters?

Brian Wood: I'm tweaking some aspects of their powers—not in a way that changes what they are, but more of an elaboration. Psylocke, for example, will have a larger arsenal of psychic weapons than just her katana. Jubilee, while still a vampire, is going to be handling those supernatural traits as if they were superpowers and not just hindrances. That's as far as we've gotten, but I'm sure they'll be other tweaks along the way. Nothing too major; this book is designed to be a sort of classic X-Men with core characterization that hits the sweet spot.

Marvel.com: Is there a member of the team that their inclusion might surprise readers more than others?

Brian Wood: Jubilee, less for the fact she's on the team than for whom or what she brings with her.

Marvel.com: How do you view Rachel Grey's role on this team?

Brian Wood: She's the aggressive and idealistic one, the one who'll make her decisions based on the greater good. It’s a bit different from Storm, who does make decisions like that but makes them on the fly, in-mission, and as the situation dictates. Rachel thinks more globally, taking the big picture into account. I also want to get something happening for her in the romance department, stir up a bunch of drama there. Plans are afoot!

Marvel.com: Is there any member of the team that you find yourself thinking, "Wow, they are fun to write dialogue for?"

Brian Wood: Jubilee, again! But all writers say that, don't they? Jubilee has a special place in my heart, since my very first paid writing job was on GENERATION X.

Last year, when I was doing my run on the last version of X-MEN, I started off a bit unsure as to how I was going to write Storm. I wasn't sure I had a handle on her, and in the end I just went with gut instincts and let her rip. And people really responded—they really responded, and so I'm eager to keep that going. I'm not changing a thing. I also have fun writing Rachel as a headmistress-type, going back to my WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN: ALPHA AND OMEGA [limited series] where she cracked the whip.

Marvel.com: What do you view as the proper approach to writing Psylocke?

Brian Wood: In this case, she's the military wing of the team, as well as Storm's informal second in command and confidant. Because of what she went through in UNCANNY X-FORCE, she sort of has an emotionally distant/emotionally overwrought thing going on; she's dealing with a lot just under the surface despite her seeming cool and calm on the outside. That's really meaty stuff for a writer to get into. I don't want to say that's the "proper" way of writing her, but I think that's the way she should be written here.

Marvel.com: You are a writer admired for building team books where you still give each character a moment in an issue where the reader gets a better understanding of that person. How hard is that and how important is it for you to be able to do it?

Brian Wood: It's really hard, and I have to say that I don't think I'm that great or even known for writing team books. I've always avoided it, or structured it in ways so that I was only ever writing one or two in any given scene. But I've been forced to get better at it. Jeanine Schaefer helps with this tremendously, making sure every character has a reason and a purpose to be on the page, and they all shine equally and it feels natural.

The character moments, that is something that comes naturally to me and it’s what I feel I can bring to any project and really deliver on. The X-Men is the perfect venue for that.

Marvel.com: What do you view as the greatest advantage/benefit to writing an all-female cast?

Brian Wood: Personally, a high comfort level in writing women. I've always written female characters, going all the way back to my first book ever, and I'm known for it. But that aside, the X-Men are full of truly excellent female characters. I would say that on balance, the women rule the men in the x-world, hands down. It's a real anomaly in comics, and I think it’s what makes the X-Men both special and successful—and appealing to all genders and all types. You can see this reflected in the fan base. So I get great women to write, complicated, complex, multi-faceted, flawed, wonderfully relatable characters, and here is this series where all that can shine. It's a no-brainer, I think, and anyone ready to dismiss it is missing what the X-Men is all about.

Marvel.com: In your recent 2012 run on X-MEN, one theme was the political strife between Cyclops and Storm. In approaching Storm in this incarnation, does that experience inform your approach at all?

Brian Wood: Like I said, I went with my gut with her and it paid off. I wrote her tough and smart, obviously, but flawed; she had the absolute best of intentions and was quite selfless in her decision making, even when she was wrong. She genuinely did what she thought was best, and if that meant breaking the rules or screwing things up for Scott, that was just what had to happen. It's a very flawed trait in someone, but at the same time you have to admire her for it. I love writing flawed characters; if anything I do is my "secret weapon", it’s that. I've never afraid to show that side of a character, and it makes a hero that much more heroic. It also makes them very human and relatable.

Marvel.com: In the opening issue of X-MEN, a baby plays a prominent role in the action. What's the secret to successfully involving a baby without making a character that cannot speak or act in any manner be little more than a football that the characters pass around?

Brian Wood: Well, I have a couple babies of my own and I know from experience that they don't have to talk to communicate. That said, I think the secret to that will be to make sure to show how people react to the baby, let that do the heavy lifting rather than to rely on the child itself. I'm very careful, as a father, in how I'm handling the infant in the story, avoiding violence situations and anything that feels gratuitous or like it’s treating the child like a football. And without giving too much away, this child isn't a plot point that will come and go, but will be around for as long as I am, at least.

Marvel.com: As a creator who clearly relishes doing research for his stories, do you care to delve into what you have pursued for X-Men?

Brian Wood: I took a couple issues of X-Men—[Brian] Bendis' new ALL NEW X-MEN #1 and Grant Morrison's [first issue of] NEW X-MEN—and picked [them] apart for [their] mystical secrets of how to write a compelling #1 issue, one full of action and drama and retaining that sort of "yes, that’s the X-Men!" vibe. Like I said before, I'm aiming for that sweet spot of big action and crazy dramatic moments, mixed with intense character drama. And sex and romance, of course, that which drives the X-Men and kinda always has, really?

Marvel.com: What is the key to tapping into capturing the "classic X-Men" vibe?

Brian Wood: A little bit of what I said above, about the characterization. The X-Men are perfect, when you get down to it. They don't need anything, they are this great community of interlocking personalities that generate all the action, drama, love, sadness, betrayal, and sex you could ask for, and more. My approach is to facilitate that, let them be the X-Men everyone recognizes and knows, give them classic villains to fight, plenty of chances for action, and not pull any punches in the process.

USAToday: The title of Brian Wood's X-Men comic book is a bit of a misnomer since it stars an all-female cast.

However, the writer aims to have everything else about the relaunched Marvel Comics series be classic, from characters and themes to villains and relationships.

"I'm definitely an X-Men fan, but I'm not deep into the world," says Wood, who's pairing with artist Olivier Coipel. "I'm not a writer who's been writing it forever, so my natural instinct is to go basic and simple and to its core."

"Marvel takes a look at its spectrum of X-Men books and fills needs. This is the book that is like a traditional X-Men book."

Debuting in April, Wood's series is the third relaunched X-Men-centric title in the Marvel NOW! initiative, joining Brian Michael Bendis' All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men (which premieres next month). And Wood had been on the X-Men series last year along with Ultimate Comics: X-Men.

He's just glad to be talking about the new series now: "It's like any second, I'm going to get a call and they're going to be like, 'Oh, no, we're giving it to Bendis,' " Wood says, laughing.

Since their first appearance 50 years ago, the X-Men have had a history of strong female characters, even before it was cool. Wood has had many of them in his books, too, going back to Generation X in 2000 — his first paid gig in comics — and his recent X-Men.

However, with this new X-Men he gets all the A-list X-women: The book's main star is Jubilee, but it also includes Storm, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Psylocke.

"I feel like as far as the X-Men go, the women are the X-Men," Wood explains. "Cyclops and Wolverine are big names, but taken as a whole, the women kind of rule the franchise."

"If you look at the entire world as a whole, it's the females that really dominate and are the most interesting and cool to look at. When you have a great artist drawing them, they look so amazing and always have."

The drama is starting right away in X-Men, beginning with Jubilee bringing home an orphaned baby who might be key to mankind's survival. Meanwhile, someone else shows up — namely Sublime, a villainous bacteria from Grant Morrison's New X-Men run that can take over human beings but is currently faced with a threat of his own coming from outer space.

"He's forced to go to the X-Men for help," Wood says. "He's like the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend situation."

Things only get more interesting from there, with Sentinels, a potential alien invasion and an ancient war between siblings.

Having such a deep roster is "an honor in a way," Wood says, but it has been overwhelming for him at first juggling all of them and making sure they all have a clear logic and reason to be there. However, X-Men editor Jeanine Schaefer has been essential in reminding him what's important about each one. "I've never met a bigger X-men fan than her. She's hyperactive about this stuff."

While Emma Frost isn't around — "I did ask her for her, though, but she's busy," Wood says of Cyclops' love interest over in Uncanny — Wood's liked putting Jubilee in a starring role, although he's keeping many aspects of her story secret thus far, and continuing a popular take on Storm.

Other characters have been trickier, though, like Rachel Grey. "She's not as distinctive as others are. There's different learning curves for each one, but I want to get them all down," Wood says.

"I don't want to make it the 'Jubilee and friends book.' They're all A-list characters — I've got to make them all shine."

Wood's taking two past X-Men runs as inspiration for his book, starting with Chris Claremont's stint as Uncanny X-Men writer in the 1970s and '80s and his focus on character.

"I didn't read it at the time – I've gone back and read it in collected form — but I can really appreciate how riveting that must have been reading it monthly. You're just dying to know what happens each issue to these characters," Wood says.

"It was how they related to each other and the stuff they went through personally."

But he's also using the first handful of Morrison's New X-Men issues from 2001 as a "personal template for how you do what I'm doing now," the writer says. "It had everything: It had that classic cast doing the classic stuff — very recognizable and big action."

"If I can make the reader feel the way I felt about that, where you're just like, 'Ah, this is just right, this is the X-Men,' that's the kind of vibe I'm going for."

Wood, who also writes Conan, Star Wars and The Massive for Dark Horse Comics, says Marvel has made no secret of the fact that that want really compelling human moments from him — a trademark of his comics career.

"I really love getting into people's flaws as well as their attributes. I'm not afraid to show flaws in their characters, which I feel is unusual a lot in superhero books," Wood says.

"That's all I'm interested in writing at Marvel. Every so often I get asked, 'Is there anything else you want to do?' And I'm like, 'I don't know.' The X-Men are right up my alley — what I'm most comfortable with."

Wood also promises to bring a lot of relationships, love and sex into the book, "in the classic X-men way — the way it used to be."

He wants to challenge the double standards that have been in superhero books for years, were Wolverine can sleep with anybody but if a female character does it twice, she's promiscuous, which Wood sees constantly online.

"To everybody's credit, these people are often shot down immediately for being sexist and unfair, but that is a very common thing," Wood says."We're just going to do it. We're not going to worry about that. If Kitty or Rogue has basic human bodily urges, tough luck (to those opposed). To me, that's as much of the X-Men as anything else."

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Kris Anka's cover for Uncanny X-Force #2 will now be the regular cover whereas this Ed McGuinness rendition will be the variant cover. Unfortunately, there won't be an Olivier Coipel cover for issue #2 anymore. Source: ComicList.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Spoilers: Tony Stark
holds a press conference so Kitty can introduce the sentient seed to the world
as a gift from mutantkind to humans. Some think it can end word hunger and consolidate
the peach between both races, while others are suspicious of its effect.
Mysterious businesses meet and decide the seed works against their interests.
They want to get rid of the remaining mutants. On the following day, Stark
warns Kitty that she may be prepared for backlash both from humans and mutants themselves.
Kitty says she’s not interested in fighting anymore. Meanwhile, Blackheath is
upset that Kitty is taking all the credit for the seed. Storm argues that it’s
just Stark using her to make the mutants look good. In Tian, Liz and Derek say that the mutants
are impressed by Kitty’s accomplishment. Karen tells them not to fall for the
hype as Utopia will never last. In Utopia, Mach Two, Psylocke and Warpath plot
against Kitty. Psylocke says she has the right person to use so they can discredit
Kitty. At night, mercenary killers invade Utopia and shoot at the mutants, who
fight back, much to Kitty’s annoyance. Stark warns them that if someone hired
them to send a message, things will get much worse.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

CBR:Sam Humphries joined X-Position for his first run at answering your questions in anticipation of the series' January 16 release, including how "Uncanny X-Force" connects to Remender's run, the concept of mutant ninja noir, the possible expansion of the cast and more.

Uncanny X-Force has gone through so many incarnations. Remender's run was one of the best ever X-Men runs in history and it was about an assassination squad. Is your X-Force going to be the same?

Sam Humphries: Hey Thomas! This version of Uncanny X-Force is going to be all about MUTANT NINJA NOIR. I love Rick's run -- I've been a fan long before Marvel even knew my name, much less offered me a gig. But I love it enough to leave it alone. No one wants to see me do a watered down, re-hashed Remender -- not you, not me, not Marvel, and definitely not Rick. Each iteration of X-Force has been different from the last. The only constant besides "change" is outsiders, living on the fringes. So we're picking up on a lot of plot threads from Rick's run while steering into MUTANT NINJA NOIR territory.

I saw the preview pages on CBR and got REALLY EXCITED! They look soooo good and soooo different from Ron Garney's Wolverine pages, I was surprised! How did you and Ron come up with the look for the book?

Sam Humphries: Right on Liv! Yes, "Uncanny X-Force" was teased with the word "KILLERS" and now it can be revealed: the true KILLER of "Uncanny X-Force" is Ron Garney! This is a new side to Ron that people have never seen before -- dude's got secret styles just waiting to bust out on the right project. For "Wolverine," he went for a grittier, pencils-only look. For "Uncanny X-Force," he went for a sleeker, sexier look.

But what is always the core strength of Ron's work, no matter the look, is his razor-sharp storytelling and his fist-blistering action. I had a vision for how the book would "feel" -- a sort of comic book je ne sais quoi that we ended up calling MUTANT NINJA NOIR. Ron picked up the ball and ran with it and turned it into more than I could have achieved on my own. Let's not forget inker Danny Miki, colorist Marte Gracia, and our superstar editor Nick Lowe who had the vision to put this team of scoundrels together! Truly a team effort, truly bigger than the sum of its parts.

First off, I'm really looking forward to your run. Here's my question: At the end of Remender's "X-Force" I was NOT rooting for the Psylocke/Fantomex relationship. I felt like Fantomex (admittedly) emotionally took advantage of her at a time when she was distressed over the fate of someone she loved and as things continued to pile up and her life became more upsetting she developed a weird Stockholm Syndrome for him. Can you tell me why I'm wrong and why I shouldn't be rooting for them to go their separate ways?

Sam Humphries: HEY CARA! No, I cannot tell you why you're wrong -- because everything you just said is one of the central questions of my first few arcs! All I can say is my first issue takes place six months after Rick's last issue, and a lot can happen in six months. If those concerns are important to you, you're going to have a lot to say after you read that first issue.

Any plans to have Cluster and/or the new Uncanny X-Force team confront the evil Jean-Phillipe clone Remender introduced at the end of his run?

Sam Humphries: Yes. A Fantomex with a mutant-hating Sentinel for a brain? Hell yes we are gonna see that!

EVA has been a huge part of Fantomex, so curious if she'll be a part of the team in her humanoid form or go back to being an external nervous system and ship?

Sam Humphries: EVA does have a presence in the book. We won't be focusing on her in the first couple arcs, but if you were EVA, what would you want to be?

With Spiral on the team, how long until we see Mojo rear his ugly head?

Sam Humphries: No plans for Mojo... in the immediate future.

Can you give us a hint as to who may be joining the team down the road? Any characters you wanted to use that you couldn't?

Sam Humphries: Well, you know that Cluster, Fantomex, and the evil Fantomex Jean-Phillipe will have a presence in the book. There's one more character for the book who has not been announced. I'll give you two hints: a) This character made their first appearance in the past 30 years or so. b) You'll never guess, mua ha ha ha ha!

In the early days I wanted to use Jubilee but writer [REDACTED] came up with better ideas for her to be played out over in [REDACTED] so she'll be appearing in that book.

Who are the characters your most excited to see the X-Force interact with? Any faces from the X-Men's past?

Sam Humphries: I am an X-book geek from way back, so yes, I am excited to smash X-Force up against other characters. The Marvel Universe is small, and densely populated. There's a pretty major bad guy coming up from the X-Men's past. I'd love to see Spiral try to seduce Captain America but I dunno if they'll let me get away with that.

Will the brotherhood from Remender's "Final Execution" arc make an appearance? I would think Psylocke and Fantomex would want to find the members who escaped, especially Mystique.

Sam Humphries: No plans for the Brotherhood right now, Rick nailed it with that crew.

Will Mystique be making an appearance in future issues? I think her inclusion would be very natural given her interest in the previous X-Force incarnation. She'd make a great antagonist to the new cast too!

Sam Humphries: You'll see Mystique, just not in "Uncanny X-Force."

Bendis mentioned that he'll have the teenage version of Angel meeting Psylocke at some point. Any plans to address how his arrival from the past will affect Betsy? I mean, it's gotta affect her in some way to know the teenage version of the real love of her life who she just happened to kill came back from the past.

Sam Humphries: Hey Jared! Yes. And that's all I can say right now because Bendis has incriminating photos of me.

While I loved Remender's X-Force, the last two years heavily focused on Psylocke's relationships with Warren and Fantomex. For this same reason, I was kinda disappointed to see the male (real?) Fantomex in the previews for UXF 2.0. Can we finally have a break from all that love drama, and see Psylocke standing as her own woman with no men/relationship to define her character arc?

Sam Humphries: Yo Ben! What's up dude. I like the way you think. Similar to Cara's question, I can't talk about it right now because it's something that I'm planning to address head-on. If these issues get you worked up and passionate, you're gonna have a lot to chew on -- even after the first issue.

Are you addressing Psylocke's X-Men status? In Regenesis, she told Wolverine the school wasn't a good idea and didn't want to be part of it. She sided with Cyclops because she agreed with his views. So far, we haven't seen her by Scott nor Logan's side. Why?

Sam Humphries: I dunno, once an X-Man, always an X-Man, I always thought -- even if you're not running around the mansion or hanging with the A-list team. To me, Betsy isn't a character that gets wrapped up in all that zero-sum game drama. All that, "Oh you're against him so you must be with me" and vice versa. Betsy thinks both Logan and Scott are full of shit to some degree right now, and she has no interest in getting into their partisan battles. She's carving her own path.

There was this time that even Spiral thought of apologizing to Psylocke for what she did to her throughout the years, but decided that regret was for lesser beings (gotta love her!). Most recently, Spiral messed up with Psylocke again in Matt Fraction's Sisterhood arc. So how does Spiral see Psylocke? One of her favorite toys to mess up with?

Sam Humphries: There's something that Spiral sees in Betsy that hasn't really been explored yet -- a mirror. A reflection.

Considering Storm’s feelings about what a team such as X-Force has historically stood for, will her being a member of this team get revealed to some of the other X-Men who are closest to her (i.e. – Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, etc.)? And if so, what kind of a reaction do you think they will have to that discovery?

Sam Humphries: Yes! Hey Windrider! Storm fans unite!! This X-Force isn't a secret, but they also don't go out of their way to integrate themselves with the school's rumor mill either. But one day, Storm's life in X-Force and her obligations to the school are going to collide head on...

Storm has a great mix of formidable power, skills, and abilities (great at hand to hand combat, lockpicking, battle strategy, versatile powerset, etc.) and gets 'down and dirty' when the situation calls for it. Can we expect to see some of this come into play from her in Uncanny X-Force?

Sam Humphries: YES. Storm may have been a goddess and a queen, but she's still the same woman who was a pickpocket orphan on the streets of Cairo, a switchblade wielding killer, and the leader of a ragtag group of sewer-dwelling outcasts. The pendulum is always swinging with Storm -- and in this book you'll see it swing more towards the down and dirty.

Friday, January 4, 2013

CBR: When Humphries' new volume of "Uncanny X-Force" was announced back in September he was unable to talk about all of the characters in his book because one of them, Fantomex, was currently dead. But in "Uncanny X-Force" #35 the character's three brains were reborn in three different clone bodies, so Humphries can now officially confirm that two of those clones will play major roles in his "Uncanny X-Force" series.

"We knew when I started plotting the new 'Uncanny X-Force' that Rick was going to split Fantomex in three, and we also knew that he planned on 'killing' Fantomex for a certain number of issues. We didn't want to undercut that though. So that's why we've been very coy about Fantomex, the identity of Cluster and how and why they're involved in the book. We wanted the end of Rick's run to have as much impact as possible," Humphries told CBR News. "So we can finally reveal that Fantomex is in the new 'Uncanny X-Force.' Both Fantomex and Cluster are in issue #1 and joining the rest of the crew in this new era of mutant ninja noir. We can also reveal that Cluster is not a 'Lady Fantomex' or 'She-Fantomex.' She's the cloned third brain of Fantomex; an aspect of what used to be 'Fantomex Prime' now split off into an individual person."

The first clues readers were given of the Cluster persona's existence came in the last volume of "Uncanny X-Force" where Fantomex was shown raising Evan, the young clone of Apocalypse, in a virtual reality environment. In these scenes Evan referred to Fantomex as his Uncle Cluster.

"Cluster is the nicest and most nurturing of Fantomex's brains, but that doesn't mean she's the most heroic. I don't know if heroic is quite the right word to apply to any Fantomex. To some people saying you are the nicest version of Fantomex may be like saying you are the tallest version of Danny Devito," Humphries said with a laugh. "'Fantomex Prime,' or the old Fantomex, was constantly wrestling with the three sides of his personality. He had Fantomex, Cluster, and Jean Philipe. Jean Philipe being the dark, evil sentinel brain within him. Cluster calls herself 'the nicest' and that's certainly true. She's the most loving and most in touch with her feelings and her emotions. She's not the rakish, devil-may-care, Fantomex."

Jean Philipe, the clone that embodied the murderous and Sentinel-like aspects of Fantomex, will have a part to play in "Uncanny X-Force" as well. Humphries confirmed he'll make his presence felt in early issues of the series and, like the other two Fantomexes, he will have feelings for another member of the team, Psylocke AKA Betsy Braddock.

"All three Fantomexes have feelings for Betsy, and all three Fantomexes are still Fantomex," the writer remarked."So you'll see the immediate ramifications of how that dynamic plays out in the first issue of 'Uncanny X-Force.' It will be something that we're going to play with in the long-term future of the book."Humphries will also explore Psylocke's relationship to death and killing, which changed in the final issues of the previous volume of "Uncanny X-Force." "She's reformed her thoughts on killing. She was someone who used to believe in killing as a means of reaching a goal, but because of her experiences with the last incarnation of X-Force, which was a black-ops kill squad, she's recently redefined those beliefs. That doesn't mean that her new beliefs are carved in stone though. The fact that they're new makes them even more unstable,"Humphries said. "Then when you put her on a team with somebody like Storm on one end, who's definitely anti-killing, and Spiral on the other, who has no problem with killing, you've got a situation where Betsy is being influenced by two opposite ends of the spectrum."

Storm's influence on Betsy in "Uncanny X-Force" stems from the friendship they developed as X-Men and the fact that they are both undergoing difficult transitional periods in their lives. "These characters are good friends and they have a long history together. They've spent a lot of time apart recently and that's because their lives have taken very different diverging paths. While Storm was being a queen in Wakanda, Psylocke was off being an assassin," Humphries explained. "Now both of those eras in their lives are over. They're both going through transitions and taking support from one another, but they've landed in different places from each other."

"Storm has killed, but has never been a big fan of it, and Betsy is moving away from the killing, but that doesn't mean they're not going to disagree about how things should be done. And when the stakes get high enough, that disagreement could turn into conflict," Humphries continued."Plus they're both leaders. Storm has been a leader of the X-Men in the past and Betsy is now a character coming into her role as a leader. This is Betsy's time. It's time for her as a character within the fictional Marvel Universe, but also as a character in the comic book world to stand up and take the spotlight. She's a character who's been through quite an experience with the previous 'Uncanny X-Force' where she saw some things go right and some things go wrong. So she has a lot of strong ideas about what the team should and shouldn't do next."

One of the things Psylocke has strong feelings about is the extradimensional sorceress known as Spiral. Spiral was part of a recent plot that used a brainwashed Psylocke to attack the X-Men, and there's no love lost between the two characters.

"Spiral has done a lot of terrible things in her life, but she's also a character who has been through her own violent transformation at the hands of others," Humphries said. "So while Betsy and Spiral definitely have a lot of unfinished business together -- business that's not going to be solved with a handshake -- they may have a lot more in common than they think."

One of the common traits shared by Psylocke and Spiral is an affinity for swords, but as Humphries hinted earlier Spiral is more inclined to employ lethal force when using her swords. "If Captain America's moral compass points north, then Spiral's points south-southwest," the writer joked. "She's not completely amoral, but she's done thing in the past that are completely amoral. So what we're going to see in this title is a different side of Spiral; a side that we haven't seen before, and a side that can make her a little more vulnerable. That side is going to push her into a position where she has to spend time with people who used to be her enemies. They're also people who frankly she hates and despises. So she's certainly not what you would call a good guy. She's not even necessarily a 'gray hat,' but she is a character who will reveal a new side of herself."

Spiral's teammate Puck will also have his own unique perspective on morality and killing. It's perspective that is colored by the many exploits he's had over his long life, especially his recent escape from hell and subsequent resurrection.

"Puck has had had a lot of experiences in his lifetime. He's an adventurer and an explorer. He's the Canadian Indiana Jones. He was a bouncer in Saskatchewan. He was in Alpha Flight. He was a drinking buddy of Wolverine, and he was in hell. Those are the elements of Puck that we'll be playing up," Humphries explained. "You'll see the smart-ass, the adventurer, the charmer, and the bad-ass. Puck is a guy who even though he's short, has never been in a situation where he couldn't kick some ass."

Puck is unique among the initial cast of "Uncanny X-Force" in that he's not a mutant or a former X-Men villain. He's primarily known as a member of the Canadian super team Alpha Flight, but he does have a number of connections to the mutant community of the Marvel Universe, his biggest being with Wolverine. Those connections allowed Humphries to bring Puck into the book in an organic way and explore his many interesting character traits.

"I think Puck is an under-recognized nexus of the Marvel Universe. He's a character with a lot of connections to a lot of different groups. He's rough and tumble, but he's also very loyal, very trustworthy, and very dependable," Humphries stated. "His most obvious connection with the X-Men is his friendship with Wolverine, but Storm has a long relationship with Puck as well. They've know each other for years."

Puck, Spiral, Storm, Psylocke, Fantomex and Cluster will not be teammates when the new volume of "Uncanny X-Force" begins. Humphries' initial story takes place six months after the conclusion of the previous "Uncanny X-Force" series and is a "making of the band" style story.

"A lot happens in those six months that we will gradually fill in for the reader," Humphries said. "And in this first story we get all the characters together quite rapidly, but for them this is not a natural grouping. There's a web of interdependent relationships that pull and push on everyone. The effect of that will determine whether or not the team stays together or falls apart."

Humphries sets a number of seemingly unrelated events in motion in "Uncanny X-Force" #1 that will bring his cast together. "One of the things that sets the events of the series in motion happens in the six month gap between Rick's last issue and my first issue," the writer said. "Another thing that sets up our initial story is that somebody is kicked out of the Jean Grey School. And the final thing that sets the events of 'Uncanny X-Force' in motion is the discovery of a new mutant."

The emergence of that new mutant brings Humphries' cast into conflict with their initial adversary, the former X-Man known as Bishop, whose belief that the mutant messiah Hope Summers was an anti-Christ like figure led him to turn on the team. When readers last saw Bishop he had failed in his quest to assassinate Hope, and was trapped in a desolate far future world.

"Bishop comes back to the present a changed man. He's changed because he's had some time to think about his actions. He's also changed because of the things he's had to do to survive in the future. So the Bishop that we see in 'Uncanny X-Force' #1 is a character who has been through a lot just to stay alive, and has done things that he didn't particularly want to do to get back to this time line," Humphries said of the time-displaced Mutant. "This is a character who's developed a lot of back story since the last time we saw him. We'll gradually reveal that back story in these first few issues."

"One thing that's been a constant with Bishop though is that he's always been a zealot. Whatever he does, he does it a thousand percent. So whether it's being a mutant lawman, trying to kill Hope Summers, or taking on X-Force, he does it with everything he's got," Humphries continued. "Bishop is certainly relentless and he's enough of a threat to take on the entire team. When we see him in 'Uncanny X-Force' he's at the tail end on a long quest that's taken him across thousands of years. Just to get back to 2013 has taken a lot out of him. So by the time he gets here he's already invested in his mission, and if 'Uncanny X-Force' tries to stand in his way he's not going to back down."

Another element of Bishop's personality that hasn't changed is his penchant for direct action. "Bishop is not going to be moving pawns across the board," Humphries stated. "He's going to sweep the pieces off that board and lunge across the table at you."

X-Force's initial battle with Bishop will unfold in Los Angeles, the city Humphries currently calls home. "If you haven't spent a lot of time in LA you're likely to have this montage in your mind from any TV show or movie that takes place in Los Angeles. It starts with a palm tree and then you cut to things like the Hollywood sign, the stars on the Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, and a person in a Lamborghini. That's not the Los Angeles we're going to see in 'Uncanny X-Force,'" the writer remarked. "I've lived in Los Angeles for 14 years and I can tell you that's a small slice of what the city is. It's unrepresentative of the people or life in Los Angeles."

"Another way to look at is when someone like Justin Bieber goes to New York City it's all limos, five star hotels, and private admissions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When you and I go to New York we're doing things like riding on the subway, taking cabs from JFK, ordering falafels from food carts, and waiting in line just like anybody else," Humphries continued. "And when someone like Captain America goes somewhere he gets that Justin Bieber style red carpet treatment. When Uncanny X-Force goes somewhere they don't see that side of an environment. They are the outcasts and outsiders. Nobody is really happy to see them. So that's the side of Los Angeles that they're going to interact with."

X-Force will get plenty of interaction with the City of Angels because they'll come to call it home, but that doesn't mean their adventures will occur strictly in the L.A. area. "They'll explore a lot of the areas of the Marvel Universe, especially the darker corners," Humphries explained. "We're not going to spend a lot of time in the places you'll see in other books like Avengers Tower or the Jean Grey School. We're going to take you to places you don't see on a regular basis."

Artist Ron Garney will bring to life the characters and locales of the first "Uncanny X-Force" arc before moving on to start work on the series' third story line. For the second "Uncanny X-Force" arc Humphries will be joined by a collaborator who's identity he had to keep secret.

"I wish I could tell you who it is," Humphries said. "People are going to love the story that we're doing with this artist. They're fantastic and this really plays to their strengths."

"I can talk a little more about the work Ron is doing though. 'Uncanny X-Force' was teased with the word 'Killers.' That was the Marvel NOW! teaser and now I can finally reveal that the true 'killer' of 'Uncanny X-Force' is Ron Garney," Humphries continued. "Everybody knows that Ron is an amazing artist, a top notch story teller, and a guy who can deliver knuckle blistering action, but this is a different side of Ron Garney than we've ever seen before. He's got this sleek, sexy style that he's been waiting for the right opportunity to bring out and wow everyone. That's what he's done here. He's killing it on this book."

Garney's style and Humphries' vision for the book means when readers pick up the new volume of "Uncanny X-Force" later this month they'll be getting a book unlike the last volume of the series or any other X-title Marvel currently publishes.

"'Uncanny X-Force' is a book about outsiders. This is a Marvel Universe where Wolverine is running a prep school and Rogue and Sunfire are Avengers! This is a post-'AvX' world where Avengers and X-Men are bending over backwards to promote this new era of unity and harmony, but there are still outsiders in this world. There are still scoundrels and weirdos and people who can't or don't buy into the whole Uncanny Avengers idea. All of these characters have reasons to feel like misfits. They're people who don't belong in Captain America's grand plan even if they are invited. These scoundrels and truly weird characters need a home and 'Uncanny X-Force' is that home. There are a lot of books with Uncanny in the title, but this book is going to be the most Uncanny of them all."

"The title X-Force has had a lot of incarnations over the years, from the extreme '90s, the Milligan era, to the Kyle and Yost era, and Rick Remender's black ops era. The only constant through all these eras is change and the fact that it's a mutant book about outsiders," Humphries continued. "This is the mutant book where you're going to have characters go to places and do things you don't see in any other super hero comic book. So we're going to take a left turn out of black ops-wetwork territory and head straight into mutant-ninja-noir territory. That's what the new 'Uncanny X-Force' is going to be about."

Psylocke

“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, ninja assassin and, above all, X-Man.